Never Ever Gonna Happen (Complete)

Chapter Twenty Five

“Bernard!” Amanda called, running after Bernard's retreating form. “Hey!”

Bernard stopped but didn't turn around.

“Hey,” She said, walking around him until she came face to face with him. “What's going on? What have you done?”

“I told the truth. I believe the world deserves to know the truth.” He answered stiffly.

“I can honestly tell you right now, you made a mistake.”

“Is that so?” He asked sarcastically. “Remember Estelle?” Amanda shook her head. “We were engaged, five years ago.”

“Yeah, now I remember.”

“Well, it turns out that when Estelle chose to come into my life, she did so to fulfill a pact she made with, wait for it,” He let out a frustrated laugh. “Jeanie! Jeanie, ladies and gentlemen! And, her real name is not Estelle, it's Stacey and she's Jeanie's best friend.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying Jeanie lied to that reporter, manipulated her way into my life, deceived me into falling in love with her, and planned to abandon me on the alter as well, just like Estelle had done because they made a pact and I'm supposedly their chosen victim. Myself and many other men!”

Amanda paused, barely able to comprehend Bernard's words for a few seconds. She could believe Estelle capable of doing such a thing but surely not Jeanie! Jeanie seemed too sweet to carry out such an act. Naïve even.

“I'm leaving for Paris tonight. I need you to meet me there by tomorrow morning. Right now,” He said, walking past her. “I need a break.”

**

Jeanie laid flat on her back with her eyes close. The marbled floor beneath her was cold against her back and the room was silent. Both her arms and legs were outstretched on the floor and the steady sound of her breathing was the only thing that filled her ears.

Seated right beside her on the floor, was the cheque of a hundred thousand dollars Bernard had written a day ago. She had found it exactly where he had announced, to the entire world via the press conference he held, it would be.

Jeanie was positive she had been lying still for hours, yet, it felt like only a few minutes. Time blurred in her mind until all that was left was a big white fog making it impossible to tell where one hour began and another ended.

The day of Bernard's announcement had left Jeanie stunned. She had been too shocked to even react. Then, when she had gotten over the shock, she had began searching TV stations to understand exactly what it was he was mad about. From the information she was able to gather in three hours of surfing TV channels and the internet, Bernard confessed to hiring her to act as his fiancee in order to deceive the world. Then, he blamed her for conniving with Stacey to break his heart. What was worse, Bernard had once been engaged to Stacey who walked away on the eve of their wedding. Jeanie was accused of conniving with Stacey to work her way into Bernard's life, five years later and try to achieve the same feat Stacey had achieved.

Reading the comments attached to some of those articles had been the worst decision of Jeanie's life. Everybody on the planet blamed Jeanie. If Jeanie had thought for even a second that her mother's accusing eyes was the worst thing she ever encountered, nothing could have prepared her for the reaction of the world. People sympathized with Bernard and blamed Jeanie. Of course, there was also the minority who thought Bernard deserved it for trying to deceive the world just so his 'wacky' designs could get into Fashion Week. Then there was the really small group who wanted to 'fist bump' Jeanie for her efforts of trying to destroy a 'chauvinistic Bernard who deserved to rot in hell.' Then there was the handful who didn't care and thought Bernard and Jeanie did everything for the publicity and didn't deserve the amount of media coverage they were getting because they were 'fame hungry losers.'